The city closed Drinkwater Bridge in July and restricted traffic to two lanes at the 68th Street bridge in January after severe concrete deterioration was found.

The city estimates it will spend approximately $4.65 million to rebuild the 68th Street bridge and $8.57 million for Drinkwater Bridge repairs.

Funding will come from several projects in the city's Capital Improvement Plan, including for sidewalk repairs, trail improvements, streetlight replacement and unpaved roads.

City Councilman David Smith questioned whether the money would be paid back.

"I don't want people to assume we just looked around the room and found the money," Smith said. "We are moving money between funds with no evidence that we're going to repay it."

Where's the money coming from?

Spalling and exposed rebar of the Drinkwater Bridge.(Photo: Courtesy of the City of Scottsdale)

Approximately $3.9 million of the 68th Street budget will be taken from other projects that will be canceled or scaled back, City Engineer Dave Lipinski said. Additional funding will come from two projects that were already completed and had some leftover funding.

The Drinkwater project will be paid for with funding for five projects on the Capital Improvement Plan, plus $4 million from the general fund's capital contingency budget.

Smith raised concerns that the contingency budget is typically used for fire, police and other city services.

City Treasurer Jeff Nichols said it would be paid back.

Smith said the situation is a prime example of why the city needs voter support for a larger effort to reinvest in the city's infrastructure. Smith has estimated the city has nearly $800 million in infrastructure needs to address.

He lobbied for a bond request to handle the backlog this spring. Instead, the council opted to send a narrow request to voters in the Nov. 6 election: a 0.1 percent sales-tax increase for transportation projects.

"This money has not been tucked away somewhere waiting to be spent," Councilwoman Virginia Korte said. "I look at this as one of these consistent shaves of our quality of life."

What's the plan?

Deterioration under the 68th Street bridge.(Photo: Courtesy of the City of Scottsdale)

Work to replace the 68th Street Bridge will begin in January during the SRP dry-up of the Arizona Canal.

"If we didn't do this now, construction would be virtually impossible," Lipinski said.

Currently, only the center spans of the bridge show deterioration, but it will be safer and more cost effective to replace the entire bridge, according to the project's website.

Construction on Drinkwater Bridge will begin in early December. Civic Center Mall, which sits on top of the bridge, is not expected to open until fall 2019, according to Mike Phillips, a city spokesman.

The city opted to rehabilitate Drinkwater Bridge because a complete rebuild would cost $5 million more, Lipinski said.

The city is working to create temporary pedestrian walkways on the north and south ends of the closed Civic Center Mall.

A giant crane moves the "LOVE" sculpture to its new location in front of the Scottsdale Center for the Art on Oct. 12, 2018. The new spot is about 130 feet east of the original location.(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic)